It's good to be bad in this emotional RPG.

"Why do you think that birds fly?" This riddle is posed in the first hour of Tales of Berseria, the emotionally ragged semi-prequel to Tales of Zestiria that ripped my heart out again and again with its cautionary tale of a woman so bent on vengeance that every road she follows leads to perdition. By the time the credits rolled on this 45-hour long action RPG I still wasn't sure what the answer was, but I knew this: Berseria is the best Tales game I've played, and my favorite to date.

Berseria's greatest strength lies in its ability to tell a different kind of story from those of its predecessors. Instead of the cheery, can-do spirit I've come to expect from the series, Berseria fully explores the darkest parts of the human heart. There's no real sunny side to the anti-heroine Velvet Crowe, who drives the plot with her unquenchable thirst for bloody vengeance on the man who took everything from her. Nor is there much hope of redemption for the memorable company she keeps, which includes the enraged pirate Eizen, the mouthy and detached witch Magilou, and the fratricidal demon Rokurou. These characters reflect just how emotionally broken their world has become in the face of multiple calamities. Only the fragile Malak (spirit) Laphi and the earnest Exorcist Elenor keep this ragtag group anchored in hope and distinct from the actual villains. Even then, the ties that bind them threaten to come undone as their search for the truth behind the theo-political machinations of a tight group of elites collides with their need for personal vengeance.

Berseria fully explores the darkest parts of the human heart.

At first I had a hard time believing the people Velvet kidnapped, cajoled, or manipulated into following her had reason to stay by her side as long as they did. Then, as their personal tragedies unfurled and the characters indulged in the usual dialogue skits Tales is known for, I began to understand their growing camaraderie. I smiled whenever Rokurou and Eizen disagreed to agree, laughed at Magilou's tactless jokes, and held my breath nervously whenever Eizen and Velvet clashed over what to do next. ("If you die, you die alone," the pirate growls ominously during one very tense scene.) Each character is given sufficient time in the spotlight and with each other, which allowed me to invest in their well being as individuals and as a group. I can barely remember the names of any Tales heroes that came before Berseria, but I feel like I'll remember this motley crew for a long time to come.

While Berseria flips the script on Tales' normally sunshine-filled stories, the brawler-inspired combat stays pretty much the same, with a few welcome tweaks that make it feel smooth and responsive. A variation of the Linear Motion Battle System that lets you run around a 3D battlefield returns, but now instead of using a move-governing mechanic, each action is tied to a character's Soul Gauge, which depletes every time a party member performs a special skill (Arte) in battle. Depleting a character's Soul Gauge allows enemies to more easily deflect attacks, while maxing out a character's Soul Gauge allows you to activate Break Souls, a temporary state where a character's combo limits are ignored and they can use a unique set of skills – such as Velvet's hard-hitting Consuming Claw-to take a bite out of the enemy's health and inflict a status effect. Although the Soul Gauge will replenish over time, I found it much more fun to hurry the process along by pounding souls out of an enemy while trying to avoid a similar beatdown. I really like this new system because it adds a bit of sensible strategy to the gameplay without feeling like I'm being forced to conserve or use up energy just for the sake of it.

Battles have a more cohesive flow.

A few other nice features include how Artes are conveniently hotkeyed to the Playstation 4's face buttons and can be swapped out at any time, more responsive blocking and dodging, and the ability to spend points tied to the Blast Gauge meter. These points either trigger a character's fun-to-watch Mystic Arte (My favorite is Magilou's Ascending Angel, where she stretches a paper doll to impossible lengths and then slaps the crap out of multiple enemies on the battlefield) or can be partially allocated to activate Switch Blast, where reserve characters gain a combat advantage-such as an extra soul-whenever they switch places with an active party member. These additions give battle a more cohesive flow, helped by a mostly well-behaved camera and enjoyable music. (For those who enjoy playing with friends, multiplayer is also available.)

The only issue I had was learning the terms and conditions for when and how to effectively use Break Souls and Switch Blast. It was tricky, but once I deciphered Berseria's playbook I had a hellishly good time dishing out punishment to lizardmen and wolves, and I got immense satisfaction using the scraps of metal and ingredients they left behind to enhance equipment and whip up mouth-smacking, stat-boosting feasts between battles.

I had a hellishly good time dishing out punishment to lizardmen and wolves.

The one place where Berseria doesn't shine as brightly is the garden-variety locations and lack of deep exploration. Our ragtag adventurers travel across lovely but linear flower fields and dreary marshes connected by nodes, or via a ship that travels around a large archipelago on a 2D map. While I appreciated the occasional ocean cliff to ascend or colorful puzzle dungeon to solve, for the most part I was pretty bored by the generic scenery. Lots of mandatory backtracking and limited fast-travel didn't help, even with the introduction of the "geoboard," a clunky magical surfboard that let me get from point A to point B a little faster than normal.

There were a few things that managed to keep my sense of exploration alive. One was the unlockable treasure chests containing collectible costumes scattered throughout the world. These cat-eared, bubble-gum pink "Katz Boxes" made me squeal with delight whenever I saw them, and I became obsessed with gathering magical orbs called Katz Spirits to try to open as many as I could. Minigames and battle arenas that helped sharpen my combat skills were also a welcome reprieve from the tedium of ping-ponging between the same areas, and I enjoyed sending a pirate ship around the world to collect new recipes and valuable treasure for me.

Berseria gives you the choice of hearing Japanese or English, and it’s a good thing I went with English. Not because the Japanese cast failed to perform well, but rather because the subtitles are incredibly strange. Lines like “That’s gruesome by any standards” became a chuckle-worthy “that’s goose by any standards,” and “even death can be a kind of release” became “even depth can be a kind of release,” turning the adage into a riddle. Was this the devious doings of autocorrect? A clumsy translation? Who knows, but it was a needless distraction. Luckily, the English voice cast hits it out of the park, and their strong deliveries were able to evoke a wide spectrum of emotions in me, including tears and belly laughter. It’s proof that a good voice cast can make all the difference in how much I enjoy the story.

The Verdict

Tales of Berseria is a surprisingly strong showing for this long-running series. Its tragic story of broken people fighting on the wrong side of history makes it utterly compelling, and its well-tuned combat more than makes up for its lack of interesting environments. Simply put, this is a tale too heartbreaking to miss, or to forget.